In keeping with the tradition, and after a 2-year-interruption motivated by the pandemic, the meeting of former students of the Gulbenkian Doctoral Programmess resumed. The program included a dinner, a round table and Carcavelos wine tasting offered by Villa Oeiras.

In the year in which the 30th anniversary of the doctoral programme is celebrated, the meeting also included a discussion and was attended by Professor António Coutinho, who launched the first doctoral programme in Portugal and Europe at the IGC in 1993.

An opportunity for discussion, sharing and networking of this important alumni network spread across several national and international institutions. According to Mónica Bettencourt-Dias, IGC director, “the Gulbenkian Alumni Network has enormous reputation and impact in the scientific community and society in general, both nationally and internationally”. For Joana Sá, who is part of the approximately 1,000 alumni network, “the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and the doctoral programmes are truly unique and have incomparable value and recognition. This alumni network is strong and aware of its social responsibility”.